1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for determining and informing a status of a wireless network, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for displaying a network status between a mobile communication terminal and an access point.
2. Discussion of the Background
Data processing and transmission speed, that is, an uploading/downloading speed, between a communication terminal and an access point may be unable to be recognized by a user from signal strength information displayed on a wireless communication terminal. Specifically, a conventional method of displaying the signal strength of a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network may indicate the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of a received signal without indicating actual data transmission speed between the communication terminal and the access point.
Also, although a high uploading/downloading speed is not guaranteed by strong signal strength of a Wi-Fi network in certain environments, users may have a misconception that the strong signal strength of the Wi-Fi network guarantees high uploading/downloading speed. Thus, many mobile communication terminal users may attempt accesses to the same access point that indicates the strongest signal strength and the access point may be accessed by too many users in a wireless network environment, such as a hot-spot of a wireless network.
Despite the strong signal strength of Wi-Fi, when the status of a wireless communication with an access point is poor due to frequent interruptions, and the like, a network communication with the access point may deteriorate. Specifically, the conventional method for displaying the signal strength of a Wi-Fi network may not be helpful to verify whether data is able to be transmitted efficiently via the Wi-Fi network when connected to the access point.
Accordingly, a Wi-Fi icon gauge displayed on a terminal may differ from data transmission capability and connectivity considerably since the status of the wireless network is displayed by indicating signal strength of a connected network alone without considering an environment that may have an influence on the network, such as, a processing capacity and frequency of interruption, and the like. Also, although the Wi-Fi icon gauge may indicate the signal strength of the received signal is strong (e.g., Wi-Fi icon gauge displays full signal strength), when a load is high due to many users connected to the identical access point, the network speed experienced by each of the users may not be proportional to the signal strength indicated by the Wi-Fi icon gauge.
Accordingly, there is a need for introducing a technology for reducing disruption among users by displaying the actual status of the wireless network along with information of signal strength.